Matthew Minica

Hi everyone! Many of you have known me from Memverse for a long time, but I decided it's time to tell a little bit more about myself.

I am 18 years old. I am the oldest of eleven children, and have six sisters and four brothers, including one with Down Syndrome. My two oldest (not older, mind you :P) sisters Courtney and Brianna are also on Memverse. Our family lives in San Antonio, TX.
I became a Christian several years ago and was baptized as outward evidence of this fact on September 13, 2008. I have a firm belief in Jesus Christ as the only Way to salvation. He took the punishment for the sins of man by dying on the cross, but three days later rose from the grave, defeating death!
I am now officially part of the somewhat depressing category of "Bible Bee Alumni". I competed in the Bible Bee for a total of seven years, made it to Nationals six years (2010-2015), and qualified for Semi-Finals for the last two years I competed. I have five siblings who are currently eligible to compete in the Bible Bee: Courtney, a Senior; Brianna and Philip, our Juniors; and Primaries Zachary and Summer. I am VERY passionate about the Bible Bee! It is such a life-changing program and I definitely plan to still be involved locally and nationally even though I am no longer a contestant.
Apart from Bible Bee, my main academic interest is music! I especially like to compose. I have been playing piano for about 12-13 years now, and in 2011-2014 I took lessons specifically for composition. I have composed several neo-classical epic-style piano pieces so far, a couple other intstrumentals in various styles, as well as several praise songs, one or two hymns, and some CCM-style songs. (My good friend Nathan has allowed me to publish a few of them on his website at greatawakeningmedia.weebly.com.) I also play for church a lot. My latest endeavor is composing Scripture songs for the 2015 Bible Bee. Although piano is my main instrument, I've been teaching myself violin in the past few years, and I can also strum a few chords on the guitar.
One other thing that I enjoy doing is taking care of animals. Our family has a dog breeding business, and I love helping take care of the puppies (when we have them - we haven't had any in the past few years). I also raise and breed Rhode Island Red chickens for family meat and eggs.
I am a homeschool graduate (Class of '15). One of the primary goals for my life that God has given me is to get married and raise a family of my own. In order to get me closer to that goal, I am now doing my own form of college - apprenticing with my dad and studying in the IT field; right now, studying for the CompTIA A+ certification, to be exact. I hope to continue to research in the huge and ever-widening field of IT this year and, Lord willing, even get myself an entry-level job by this year or early next.

A few more random things about me:
I am left-handed. (Pretty close to being ambidextrous, though - I do most things besides writing and eating the normal right-handed way. One of these days I'm going to train my right hand to write.)
Our address is a large city, but in reality, we live in the country.
I have a bit of a knack for writing non-fiction but haven't completely flushed out my skills as of late…
I enjoy public speaking. Sometimes.
My personality is a bit of a mystery. Just ask…uh… me. =P ^Or rather, anyone I know well.^
If you're interested in talking with me (hahaha) then get on the forums on a Saturday afternoon. Chances are I'll be there.
I started reading when I was three. 'S'what happens when you're the oldest child.
I love my friends!! Near and far, young and old, male and female ;) … I love them all! I used to be an introvert (enough so that when a party came around I would often sit in a corner and play chess by myself O_o) but in the past few years, thankfully, I've tried to come out of my shell more and interact with people. I had no idea what I was missing!!! The great majority of my good friends are online. (BTW, that's only because they live far away.) I am so thankful for my brothers and sisters in Christ in the Bible Bee especially, and look forward to seeing them at Nationals, if possible, even more than the competition itself! What a gift God gave us in sweet fellowship with His children!

Phew! If you read all that, good for you! If you didn't, go back and read it now! ;P

In Christ,
Matthew Minica
Romans 1:16-20
Psalm 27:14

(Last edited: 4/11/16)

What is the verse for at the end of all your posts?

This is a just a guess, Isaac, but those might be verses that Matthew really likes. I know that I'll sign my name and put Romans 1:16 after it, because I really like that verse…

…am I right Matthew?

That might be it.

Yes, that is my favorite passage in the Bible :)

OK, I had just seen you sign alot of things with that so I wasn't sure what it was about.

So, how long are you "epic pieces of music" that you composed?

What do you mean and who were you asking.

LOL Isaac! OOps Bethany :P

They are actually (well, two of them anyway) more like symphonies, in that they are very long :) One of them is 14 minutes long, and the other is 12 min. The third one is only 5 min. I'm working on another one that looks like it's going to be about 7-8 minutes.

Huh. Big mistake…sorry, Isaac!

Does it repeat a lot, or what?

BTW, have you heard of the song "In the Village" by Mussorgsky? It's a pretty neat piece of music it…I'm working on it right now! Listen to it, if you haven't already heard it!

Whose your favorite classical composer?

Well, yes and no. Both of those "symphonies" have only one main theme that is repeated throughout the piece, but it is varied a lot. Kind of like Theme and Variations, but with transitions in between, so it sounds more like a song.

Never heard of that song… I'll have to look at it sometime. I'm kind of busy though with Bible Bee (okay, more than kind of :D), and with the filter on my computer, I can't access any site not allowed by my parents… Anyway, I'll probably look at it SOMEtime.

My favorite classical composer… what's his name? My mind went blank. Anyway, the one that composed the New World Symphony. His style is sort of like mine. :)

The person who composed the New World Symphony is Anton Dvorak.

Okay, well then, Dvorak is my favorite composer. Thanks, God's Violinist. :)

Did you know that the meaning of symphony is "An elaborate musical composition for full orchestra, typically in four movements, at least one of which is traditionally in sonata form"?So, does that mean a piece of piano music can be a symphony?

I'm listening to the music by Dvorak and think it's pretty neat :) I don't think I have a favorite composer - Chopin, Mozart, Brahms, Bach…oh, and Mussorgsky!

No, I didn't know that was the definition! Although, I am planning to write it out for orchestra sometime. So that would fulfill one of those "requirements". I was referring to the pieces as "symphonies" only because they're very long.

I don't know exactly when I will finish my BB verses… hopefully before the end of October? We'll just see how it goes. :)

Matthew, does Caleb Montgomery do the forums? And is he Caleb M? I want to tell him about some mutual friends we have. Do you think you could have him post on my "Introduce Yourself" thread (LuxDei) or something? Sorry, I know this is a lot of questions. :)

Yes, Caleb's username is Caleb M. He does not comment on the forums, though I don't know if he views them or not. I'll write him an email.

@Bethany: I already know more than a third of the verses! Do you think end of October is too late? It is a lot of verses, even discounting the ones I already know… it's more than I've ever memorized before in this time period!

Thanks!

"I am the oldest of eight children, and have five sisters and two brothers." UPDATE: Make that nine - my mother is pregnant!!!!!!!!! She is due in March 2013! So excited!!!

Congratulations, Matthew!!! Praise the Lord!!

Congratulations on memorizing your 1700th verse, Matthew! Very exciting! Keep up the great work! Wow, 10th place on the leaderboard? Great job!

BTW, what is the exact due date for the baby? I think it would be neat if it's March 12th, that's my birthday :)

I still remember the excitement on Memverse when your last baby sister was born!! :) Do you?!

Thank you! The due date for the baby is March 19th. Yes, I remember when Harmony was born - EVERYBODY wanted to see her picture :)

BTW: I hate to say this, but I am going to have to block myself from the forums from this time until I get caught up on my memory work. I have well over 500 verses due for review right now, and having already reset my account twice, I do NOT want to do it again. I should have some time to do a lot of catch-up tomorrow.

Are you coming back to stay, Matthew?!

Also, you need to update your page…you're 15 now :)

I sure hope so. I've missed being on Memverse.

I'll update my page…sometime :) Unfortunately, my age is not the only thing that needs to be updated.

What? Is your main interest not piano anymore? :)

No answer is granted to that silly question.
(JK)

Sorry….wasn't trying to be mean! I just heard today from Courtney that you were really enjoying some new chicks :) Is that what you need to update? :P

Hey - I said JK! Maybe I should cut down on the sarcasm. :)

Yes, I did just hatch a clutch of chicks, but that's not what I needed to update. I meant the info on the Bible Bee mainly. You know, since I'm spending so much time on the forms instead of where I really need to be (quizzing verses), I might as well update it right now. :P

Sorry! I'll stop being bad now :) Wait! What? So you weren't kidding when you said that you wouldn't answer to my silly question?

Okay, but I don't see any changes!

Okay, yes, my main interest is still piano.

I just updated it.

Hey! How did you get up to Level 46?! Great job! Remember that discussion we had a LONG time ago about who would pass each other up on levels…well, I guess you won! But, not for long :P What's the last thing you have to do for level 47?

Guess what? I have to refer 14 active users…that's all. Grr. :( I actually used Courtney's account (she hasn't been on Memverse for a while, but her account is active) to get to level 46…cause I really don't think that having to refer so many users is very fair. And I'm not alone in that opinion. (If it weren't for the active referrals requirement, if the requirements kept on going up the way they are, I would be on level 55 at least. :( )

Anyways, are you going to continue your goal and do your "Matthew Minica Scripture of the Month" I always enjoy reading those :)

Are you going to answer my question under the Musicians post?!

What do you mean by this "active user thing"? Did they make all the accounts active or something?

Apparently. I'm not sure exactly what happened, really.

I thought I explained it too you! This is what Andy said when I asked about active users – "Unfortunately when we added the passage functionality it had the effect of making all users appear active."

Exactly. I don't understand how the passage functionality would have anything to do with making inactive users active. But, for that matter, neither does anyone else, probably…

I think it's a mystery to everyone on here! But, I'm not complaining – now, I just need to find more people to sign up. Though, I'm afraid that I can't find very many :( How about you?

Our new baby is here!!! IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!

Taylor Justice Minica was born at 5:51 PM on March 6, 2013. He sure did surprise us! My mom wasn't due until the 19th, and she had been telling us that she thought it would be another 2-3 weeks. But God had other plans! The labor was so short that the midwives didn't have time to get to our house, and so it was just our family when Taylor was born!

:D :D :D :D :D

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats to you guys!!!!!

That's so exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats Matthew!

Wow, that's great! Praise the LORD for a safe delivery! How many does that make now? How many girls and boys?

There's five girls and four boys now. The girls still outnumber us!!! :P JK

How's the new baby doing? Getting held all the time, I'm guessing? Well, you're only outnumbered by one…over here, it's 2 boys to 5 girls :)

Well, as you know, over here we far outnumber the girls: 7 to 1, to be precise. ;P

A very late congratulations for your new baby brother, Matthew!! And hey, don't feel bad- I'm outnumbered 7 to 1!

Nicolas: Yeah, yeah, we know…….totally just kidding :D :D

Wow! I feel like my family is so small. 2 boys 1 girl.

Uh even smaller: 1 boy, me. :D